Looking for a nudge in the right direction

KillerDx66

Hello, My Name is Jerry add I'm looking for a little direction.

I'm a 36 year old Male. I stand 6' 1" bare footed and weight about 190lb. My goal is not really to shed any weight but to live a healthier life style and trim some un needed body fat while adding some lean muscle.

Most of my adult life i have had manual labor jobs in the construction business. I've always eat like a horse and never though twice about it. I've stayed in 190 to 200lb range for the past 20 years. About two years ago i picked up a much easer job that requires much less physical activity. Over this time my weight has stayed about the same but not my appearance. I've add more fat around the mid section and lost some lean muscle.

I decided to take the job of whipping myself back into shape. For the last 3 weeks I been exercising regularly.I started lifting weights with my son here at home and bought a treadmill. I lift with him 3 nights a week and use the treadmill 6 nights a week. Treadmill mill says I'm averaging 300 to 500 calories burned depending on how hard/long i work it. I don't have a clue how many calories i burn lifting weights. I rest on Sunday.

My eating is were i get lost. For the first 2 weeks i just guessed at eating. I stuck strictly with water to drink and eat healthy foods. I did shed 5 lbs. Then i got to reading about the importance keeping up with calories and not under eating. I was shocked the first day i counted what i ate. After deducting my exercise calories i was netting about 1200 calories!! A chart i looked up says i should be netting about 2100(give or take) to lose 1lb per week. So the next day i tried to step up my calorie intake. I'm finding it very hard to net that many calories on healthy food!!! I feel like a slob by the end of the day. Like i stated earlier losing weight is not my main objective. Losing fat and adding back the lost muscle is my goal. HELP!!!

Thanks in advance for any help received and If this should be posted in a better place for a response just let me know.

krhn

Firstly you need to get deciding on what you want to do, lose fat or build muscle because you can't attain both simultaneously in the long term... If your aimed at gaining muscle there must be a calorie surplus in your diet as well as hard work on the lifting department... And deficit if your trying to shed the fat.

I your just trying to be healthy and stick to the weight, then you must eat back all of your calories you have burnt during the day...that can mean you can consume the odd chocolate, burger etc. just count your calories properly and you'll achieve your desired goals!


Good luck!

AggieLu

Jerry, try the Whole 30 program. Either google it or buy the book - IT STARTS WITH FOOD. I guarantee you will be pleasantly surprised!

Good luck.

Etienne54

I don't think he's trying to bulk.

What you're doing is great as far as exercising goes.

Like you said, you'll have to work on your dieting to keep up with 2100 calories. And that's a lot of food.

Simple and Easy choices would be to add Brown rice and either sweet/regular potato to your diet. That'll boost up your calories intake and still keep it healthy. And those two can be cooked in a microwave, a potato takes about 6 minutes and the brown rice, well follow the instruction.

And as for protein, lean meat and protein shakes does the job.

rascallycat

First and foremost, get your calories in check. Track everything that you eat.
You can get a rough idea of calories you burn under Cardio- Weight Lifting. Keep in mind that the numbers on mfp are not 100% so the burn could be over or under.. best bet is a hrm.
Try doing cut/bulk cycles. Calculate your tdee and eat at a deficit for cut and surplus for bulk.

Hope that helps

adeleinex

Congrats on a great head-start!

I think one of the first things you should get is a heart rate monitor so you can more accurately track how many calories you're burning by exercising.

Secondly, I'd recommend choosing a goal like krhn said. To lost fat, you need a calorie deficit, but to gain muscle, you need a calorie surplus.

Finally, you should read some very helpful posts that others have written, like: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12 .

Good luck!

KillerDx66

Not looking to really bulk up. More like tone up.

Thanks so much for the reply's. I do have a heart monitor i use when I'm on the treadmill. Not sure how to calculate calories burned with it though.

Thanks for this link http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12 . Great read for sure.